Woman Refuses to Host Christmas After Greedy Family Steals All the Thanksgiving Leftovers, Leaving Her Fridge Empty for the Holiday Weekend

Author image for Ely Bulnes
Ely Bulnes • Writer and Editor
Dec 2, 2024 6:00 PM EST

Welcome, women of the WWW. Thanksgiving is intended to be the one evening of the year where we set aside our differences with our relatives and enjoy a meal together. However, more often than not, this is not the case. Most people leave Thanksgiving dinner with a fresh reminder as to why they rarely reach out to certain family members.

So, if family is tricky and triggering, what's the point of Thanksgiving? Well, the food, and more specifically, the leftovers. Leftovers from the feast can be enjoyed without having to tiptoe around certain subjects and without being grilled about your 5-year plan. Plus, by the next day, the flavors in the dishes have had time to mingle together a bit more, making them even tastier than the day of. In our story today, our protagonist and her family are deprived of this experience when greedy family members leave her fridge empty of Thanksgiving leftovers. She considers refusing to host any more holidays in retaliation. Get all the details by scrolling down.

Add as a preferred
source on Google
Advertisement
  • 01
    r/AITAH u/merrymenopause • 1d AITAH for not wanting to host Christmas after the family stole all the Thanksgiving leftovers?
    via u/merrymenopause
  • 02
    My husband and I hosted the family for Thanksgiving. We made 2 turkeys, a ham, 20 lbs of mashed potatoes, 2 pans of dressing, sweet potato casserole...the full Thanksgiving menu. My in-laws always bring a ton of desserts, trays of cookies, pies, rolls, etc. which helps so much.
    via u/merrymenopause
  • 03
    We had a lovely evening, good food, good drink, good company. Later in the evening, when people were packing up to go, my husband had bought some plastic leftover containers for this moment and said help yourselves to some leftovers. We then
    via u/merrymenopause
  • 04
    went back into the front room to continue socializing. I was pretty tired and put my feet up, until it came time to walk everyone out. I looked into the kitchen and saw that the food on the island and the table was put away and went to bed.
    via u/merrymenopause
  • 05
    The next morning I woke up starving, dreaming of turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy. I opened the fridge and stood there in shock - it was empty except for a bag of turkey wings and half a bag of dressing. I thought there had to be some mistake and went to check the fridge in the garage. Nothing. there evening. I sat in shock, trying to comprehend what had happened to all of that food.
    via u/merrymenopause
  • 06
    When my husband walked into the kitchen, I asked him if there had been some miscommunication - did he offer the left over food to our relative's charity organization? He said that he had not, but he had observed another relative and his entire family carrying out the food that they had brought,
    via u/merrymenopause
  • 07
    unopened dessert that the in-laws had brought, in addition to gallon ziplock bags of the food that we had made. Did I mention I had made 20 lbs of mashed potatoes?!?
    via u/merrymenopause
  • 08
    It was a pleasure to make a meal for us to share together and I welcomed a reasonable amount of left overs, but to literally rob your host and take everything is out of bounds in my book. Now I don't want to host Christmas because of this greedy behavior. AITAH?
    via u/merrymenopause
  • 09
    EDIT: I've come back to say that I have had a day to think about it and a lot of really good advice from all of you. I agree that I should have stayed "on the job" a little longer and put food away for my family's meal the next day, and then either portioned the leftovers out or let them have at it afterwards. I clocked out early and that's my own fault.
    via u/merrymenopause
  • 10
    Some said the intent was probably not malicious, that they may have taken my and my husband's disinterest in boxing the food up as a signal that we were done with it entirely. Others said it was a compliment to our cooking, that it was so tasty that it became irresistible.
    via u/merrymenopause
  • 11
    A lot of you have been through something similar or worse (food removed from funerals and weddings) and you just made adjustments on how you handled things. I think that's what I will do too - follow through and put up the part I want to keep before enjoying the festivities and that way everyone has a good time and we get a second plate the next day. I may also host Christmas, but it will be more of a potluck situation. Thank you all for your advice, even the ones that said YTA, I like to think
    via u/merrymenopause
  • 12
    AHOY Lovebug-1055. 1d Do not host Christmas. Just say "sorry we spent so much on Thanksgiving and when everyone took all the leftovers, leaving us nothing, I had to go out and buy food for us which used up my food budget for the month. Merry Christmas". Reply 3 9.6k
    via u/Lovebug-1055
  • 13
    SnarkyBeanBroth⚫ 1d Name and shame, too, if it wasn't "everyone" - if Aunt Marge and Cousin Fred took reasonable amounts, but Uncle Howard & his family were the real culprits, make sure to say "... and when Uncle Howard and his family took all the leftovers, leaving us nothing, ...".
    via u/SnarkyBeanBroth
  • 14
    Don't spread the blame, unless it's warranted. You don't want Aunt Marge feeling weird about her perfectly normal tupperware of food. 2 4k
    via u/SnarkyBeanBroth
  • 15
    yeahokaywhateverrrr. 1d This is way better than my suggestion: "Y'all are a bunch of hogs and I'm not hosting you again." 298
    via u/yeahokaywhateverrrr
  • 16
    MermaidStone • 1d This. This is a perfect response. 16
    via u/MermaidStone
  • 17
    Neat_Caregiver_2212 • 1d They took EVERYTHING THEY TOOK THE ROAST BEAST! ← Reply 3.3k
    via u/Neat_Caregiver_2212
  • 18
    Zestyclose_Public_47. 1d Why didn't your husband say anything when he saw them taking the food? Reply 1.1k
    via u/Zestyclose_Public_47
  • 19
    AdultinginCali • 1d Or a least tell OP what's going on? 351
    via u/AdultinginCali
  • 20
    Zestyclose_Public_47. 1d Exactly. He literally watched it happen and did nothing to stop/correct the situation. ... 400
    via u/Zestyclose_Public_47
  • 21
    merrymenopause OP. 1d He said he saw them walk out to their car with the unopened desserts that my in-laws had brought. He thought it was tacky, but didn't want to spoil the evening by calling them out. He didn't know that they had cleaned out the turkey, mashed potatoes and sides until the next morning. ... 686
    via u/merrymenopause
  • 22
    Emotional-Hair-1607 1d The unspoken rule with leftovers is that you get first dibs on what your brought. Then everyone can take as much as they could normally eat for one meal. After that if there is still lots of food left, the hosts offer more to anyone who wants more. One person can't take all of the turkey for themselves. Looking at you SIL Abby, everyone saw you stuff all of the white meat into your tupperware. 1 485
    via u/Emotional-Hair-1607
  • 23
    loftychicago • 1d But even with what you brought, you leave some for the host. 148
    via u/loftychicago
  • 24
    SwimmingProgram6530 1d NTA. By the sound of it, they will still be eating your leftovers by then. Reply 485
    via u/SwimmingProgram6530
  • 25
    IHaveNoEgrets . 1d "Y'all already ate your share of food for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, so why would I need to host? See you in the new year." 262
    via u/IHaveNoEgrets
  • 26
    Reader124-Logan • 1d My family purchases those clamshell takeout containers and only puts out sandwich bags. Even then, dispersal of leftovers should be supervised – if nothing else to make sure no one packs your utensils. I'm sorry you found so many leftovers gone. ... Reply 138 ↓
    via u/Reader124-Logan

Tags

family drama marriage holiday season thanksgiving adulting reddit story married life relationships couples dinner love entitled family dinner reddit thread Reddit holidays
Scroll Down For The Next Article